keeping of a cow on any common which should be set out for him? The strength of a nation depends upon its population, and its population on their facility of providing for their progeny." It will be noticed that the cottager is disendowed by his modern friend of two of the acres with which the old Republican Bishop," as King George III. called Watson, proposed to endow him. 66 Mr. Henry Blackwell, in some "Notes from New York," contributed to our American contemporary, the Cambrian, refers to the views of the Gower controversy which have appeared in our pages from the pen of the "well-informed" "Blackletter Folio," and adds that, "in the year 1857, there was published in London, by Bell and Daldy, a handsome edition, in three octavo volumes, of the Confessio Amantis, and that in the life of Gower, p. 5, the following appears :- Caxton, who in 1483 printed the first edition of Confessio Amantis, styles him Johan Gower, Squyer, borne in Wales in the tyme of Kyng Richard the Second; Gower being the name of a family of some repute, resident in a district of S. Wales called Gowerland; but beyond Caxton's assertion, there is no proof that he was a native of the Principality." "Many Welsh place-names," says a writer in Walford's Antiquarian for February, "give unmistakable evidence of the Roman occupation; thus Pont-Sadarn, near Caerleon-on-Usk, is, of course, 'pons Saturni,' while Clemendy, a farmhouse in the same district, is a hybrid word, probably composed of 'colomen' (Lat. columba) and ty, a house. Ystrad, a common prefix in place-names, is the Latin stratum, and -allt, -ffin, and -eglwys are very evidently descendants of altus, finis and ecclesia. In the purely native place-names a description of the situation is mostly contained, sometimes of a rather poetical kind; thus Nant-yr-eos, Nightingale's Brook,' Twyn-yr-haul, 'Sunny Hill,' Llwyd-coed, ' Grey Wood,' Pantêg, Fair Valley,' and so forth. From a bend in a river or brook comes Kemeys (cam, crooked, and wy, water); to a rapid mountain stream the name Torfan (stone rolling) is given, though since the setting up of iron works along the banks this name has been almost superseded by that of Avon Llwyd, 'Grey Water.' Croes, a cross, often occurs; Waun-yr-croes, the meadow of the cross; Croeswen, the white cross, are examples. Cefn-vy-nach (by mutation from mynach), the Monks' Ridge,' is the name of an old mansion, formerly the grange of an abbey. The names of Welsh saints enter into the formation of many words, the patron saint, David, appearing in his native dress as Dewi in Llanddewi (llan answering in meaning to a Greek word which Professor Morris considers to be akin to lawn.) St. German, the French Bishop who routed Pelagius, gives his name to several parishes called Llanarmon, while the very common Llanfihangel testifies to the popularity of St. Michael the Archangel in the Welsh Church of the Middle Ages; the Blessed Virgin Mary (also a favoured saint) may be discovered in Llanfair, and St. Patrick (vulgarly considered to be an Irishman) in Llanbadrig." Here are a few more ancient Welsh hymns, from "Hen Brydydd," which can be given out and sung in Welsh and English by the same congregation: Mae'r iachawdwriaeth fel y môr Ymgrymed pawb i lawr I enw'r addfwyn Oen; Yr enw mwya' mawr Erioed a glywyd sôn: Y clod, y mawl, y parch, a'r bri, Salvation, like the ocean tide, Swells higher, higher still: Let every knee be bent That e'er was known to fame : In the Upper House of Convocation on Friday, February 11th, the Bishop of London brought up the report of the committee on a clause in the Pluralities Act Amendment Bill respecting the conducting of services in churches in Wales in the Welsh language. The clause enacted that "ecclesiastical duty shall include such ministrations in the Welsh language as the bishop of the diocese shall direct to be performed; but that he shall not require more than one service on Sundays in the Welsh language, provided always that due provision be made for the English-speaking portion of the population." The effect of these words, the report stated, was not only to deprive the native population of a second service on Sundays, without which it was impossible to keep together a Welsh-speaking congregation, but were there were no English-speaking residents, a clergyman was able to say that by having only one service he fulfilled the requirements of the law. The words were simply offensive to the Welsh people, and the committee recommended that a short Act of Parliament be introduced to repeal them. The report was adopted. At Holywell County Court on Wednesday, February 9th, before His Honour Judge Horatio Lloyd, a singular action was heard in connection with the recent "Royal Welsh Eisteddfod of Wales," held at Caerwys. The plaintiff was Mr. Griffith Jones, of Llanfairfechan, known as "Glan Menai," and he sued the Rev. T. P. Edwards ("Caerwyson"), secretary to the eisteddfod, to recover five guineas, the amount of a prize offered by Mr. J. Herbert Lewis, solicitor, Liverpool, for the best essay on the Eisteddfodau of Caerwys, and the antiquities of the place; also one guinea, the value of a silver medal, offered by the committee, and four guineas "for the loss of publicity and reputation suffered by the plaintiff's essay, by reason of the defendant's breach of contract in refusing to submit the same to the adjudicators, and to award the prize." Plaintiff attended the eisteddfod on the day the awards were to have been given, but no reference was made to it. The defendant afterwards said that the essays sent in for competition had been lost, but some weeks afterwards he found them among papers in his own house. After the present proceedings had been instituted he forwarded the essays to those of the adjudicators who were still willing to act, and they awarded the prize to the defendant, who, besides the plaintiff, was the only competitor on this subject. His Honour said he had foolishly promised to look through the correspondence, and he had been flooded with it. It was alleged that the plaintiff's essay was nothing but a huge plagiarism, nine-tenths of it having been extracted from other books. At the next court he would enter judgment for defendant without costs. NANT OLCHFA, BY E. A. DILLWYN. Author of "Jill," "The Rebecca Rioter," " A Burglary,” "Chloe Arguelle." CHAPTER XX. STOPPING A TROLLY. In proportion as Cwm Eithin was approached, so did habitations become more frequent. And as pedestrians are less noticeable than equestrians, and Reginald was modestly desirous of attracting as little attention as might be, he presently judged it expedient to dismount, turn his horse to graze in a field, and continue the journey on foot. A very important matter respecting which his mind was now greatly exercised was what to do for the best about his dress. He was still in the same attire which he had had on when he accompanied Mr. Morgan to the smoking-room on the previous night-that is to say he wore an elegant velvet smoking-suit with silk facings and linings. And as, furthermore, he was bare headed, his appearance altogether was remarkable enough to make it hopeless for him to think of avoiding public notice in his present condition. He had not troubled himself about this in the first alarm, when the predominant consideration had been the necessity of getting away from Llysderw anyhow and without a moment's delay; and it had not mattered what he wore whilst he was riding in the dark along lonely country roads. But it was a very different thing now that he was getting near the town and that day would soon be dawning; and it was imperatively necessary for him to take speedy measures to get rid of or modify the peculiarities of his costume so as to make it less conspicuous. He was busily reflecting on how this was to be done, when the door opened of a cottage he was passing by, and a man came out and stood on the threshold. The firelight in the house behind made him plainly visible, showing that he was dressed as a working man and carried a bundle of tools in one hand. K "I do believe that beggar's having a look at the weather before he starts for his daily grind," thought Reginald contemptuously, as he crossed over to the far side of the road to keep out of the firelight. "How absurd of him! Just as if it could make any odds to brutes like that whether it's fine or not-they've got to go to work all the same." He heard the door shut and a tread of loutish, heavy feet begin coming after him along the road, without its occurring to him at first that the owner of the feet could possibly have any interest for him. But he changed his mind suddenly when there flashed upon him the idea that this workman presented an excellent possible opportunity for solving the problem respecting clothes that was perplexing him. An exchange of dress with someone else would dispose of the difficulty in the most satisfactory manner-especially if the transaction were to be kept a secret for some hours afterwards. And with luck he might manage to make an arrangement of the kind with the person who was now following him. Anyhow, it was worth trying. Allowing himself to be overtaken, he at once entered into conversation, and broached the subject of the change he desired to make. And in so doing he took care to point out and expatiate upon the finer, more expensive, and altogether superior quality of his own apparel to that of the other party concerned; and endeavoured to make the latter understand clearly that the bargain proposed to him was a highly advantageous one. The other party, however, was not inclined to see the matter in the same light. Velvet, silk, and fashionable cut were things beyond his ken, and of whose value he had no appreciation-not like the fustian and corduroy which he himself wore and knew all about. Personal experience had taught him that these last were good, serviceable materials; and, as such, they seemed to him decidedly preferable to those queer stuffs that were being offered him instead. No doubt the stranger was some ragamuffin of a tramp who thought to swindle him. These considerations made him reply sulkily that Reginald .could go look somewhere else to find a fool; and that he didn't put no credit in them as was so wishful to give something for nothing-no, not he. Reginald internally cursed him for a suspicious dolt. He answered out loud, however, with much apparent heartiness, that that was right enough, and just what he would have said himself. He was quite aware that his conduct must seem very odd, but he was acting as he did in order to win a bet. In saying this he had hit upon the right way to appeal to the heart of his companion, who had-like most Taffies-strong sporting proclivities. A bet being in his eyes a form of sport, |